


Breaking Ground

by solar_celeste



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Autistic Peter Parker, Big Brother Harley Keener, Harley Keener is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Just There, Kid Fic, Kid Peter Parker, Peter Parker Has Anxiety, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Tony Stark Has A Heart, not vital to the plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22108342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solar_celeste/pseuds/solar_celeste
Summary: The meltdowns didn't come often but they had been having a bad week, big brother Harley finally gets through a little.or"He closed his eyes, snuggling into his comforter once again.And then the screaming started."
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, Harley Keener & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 20
Kudos: 444





	Breaking Ground

**Author's Note:**

> This is completely unrelated to my series 'We'll Build This Love' and might turn into its own series depending on the feedback I receive.
> 
> A little background: Harley and Peter are both Tony's biological children but from different mothers. Harley was taken into Tony's custody as a preteen (11/12) and is 15 in this fic and Peter has been with Tony since birth (I'm thinking he's around 7/8 in this? It can be up for interpretation). Peter has Autism but its not that severe and can be overlooked, he also has really bad anxiety. 
> 
> This just came to me and I needed to write it down! Hope you guys enjoy :)

Harley rolled over in bed, groaning and wondering what had woken him up. He had been sleeping soundly, tired from the events the night before (which had been New Year’s eve) and was not at all opposed to spending the day curled between his sheets before school picked up again. Actually, he really wanted to do that. He closed his eyes, snuggling into his comforter once again. 

And then the screaming started. 

It must have been Peter’s voice that had woken him in the first place. He could hear his dad now too, from where they were down the hall, saying something about the shower. It seemed innocent enough, except for the fact that Harley’s little brother was tearing apart his own vocal chords. He was out of his bed in an instant. 

With a quick glance to the clock -which only read _9:27_ \- he hurried to the door, not bothering to throw on a shirt or pick his pillow up from where it had fallen onto the floor. 

He couldn’t see Peter from the hallway, but he could definitely hear him better, voice trailing from where he was in the master bedroom. Harley followed the sound and still, once he entered the room he could only see his dad, who stood in the doorframe of the bathroom, voice rising as he continued to rattle on about the shower. Harley’s brows wrinkled in confusion. 

Knowing better than to interrupt his dad when he was in the middle of parenting (made that mistake before) Harley walked hastily but silently across the room. Peter was hiccuping, sucking in big gulps of air as he sobbed. Harley didn’t understand the problem, was this all over taking a shower?

Tony sent the teen a glance once he had gotten close enough to be noticed, eyes calm. “You need to take a shower, Peter,” The man said. Their father didn’t use nicknames when he was being disobeyed. 

“No!” Peter screeched, stamping his foot angrily. Harley could see him now, standing by the sink, half dressed and face covered in a mix of snot and tears. The teen made sure to stay out of the younger boys line of sight though, since Peter tended to run to Harley for reprieve when he was being scolded, something Tony didn’t like. 

“Just a quick one, Peter.” Tony sighed. “You don’t even have to wash your hair, just get that mess off of you.” 

“I don’t _want_ to!” Peter screamed again, sending spittle and tears flying. He was really riled up now, hands flapping at his sides and eyes darting around anxiously. He was slipping into meltdown mode, Harley realized. That was, if he hadn’t done so already. 

“Peter.” Tony warned, demeanor calm and collected but voice cool with an instructive tone. Harley wasn’t worried though, Tony was never that tough on Peter. 

“D-daddy,” Peter whined. Puppy dogs eyes blinking and lower lip protruding in a rather pathetic pout. The kid looked like a damn kicked puppy. 

“Shower, now,” Tony said. Harley could see that though their dad’s jaw was tight and his decision was set, his eyes were soft. He hated having to play the bad cop but he needed Peter to listen.

“N-no!” Peter choked out in a scream. “I-I-I,” he stuttered, “I won’t!” 

“I’m leaving you here to calm down,” Tony said to the small boy. “You can come find me once you’ve decided to shower,” he finished, closing the door the bathroom and sighing. Peter continued to scream on the other side.

“What happened?” Harley asked, not bothering to lower his voice. He doubted Peter could hear much over his own cries and, besides, the kid was much too distracted by the situation to be eavesdropping. 

“The stopper for the tub broke and he spilt his breakfast all over himself again,” Tony explained, scrubbing a hand down his face. He needed to shave, his usual goatee had grown too long. Harley understood though, it had been a difficult week with Peter.

“And the other tubs?” Harley asked. There was one in his own bathroom that he wouldn’t mind his brother using, if that would fix the problem. There was another too, in the hall that connected the bedrooms. 

“He’s refusing to use any other one, he says he _‘hates_ them’.

Harley hummed, moving away from the on-suite door to lay down on his dad's bed. “Did he sleep much last night?” He asked. He knew that the kid had gone to bed around half past ten, despite the holiday, but Peter rarely slept through the entire night.

“Not really,” Tony sighed. “He was okay for a little while but he snuck in here around two-ish.”

“What was it this time?” Harley asked.

“Something about being abducted by aliens.” They both snickered. 

“We were actually having a good morning,” Tony continued. “We sat on the patio and read a book together and made a nice breakfast. He got a little anxious when a group of nosy pigeons came along but other than that the morning was incident free.” Tony rubbed at his facial hair again. “I just don’t know what’s been up with him lately. I thought we had finally gotten over the hurdle.” 

Harley sighed, he wished he knew. It wasn’t often that Peter acted like he had been for this long of a period. Usually he was fine and even, to an outsider, it would seem as if nothing was amiss (besides, of course, a little bit of anxiety). Three meltdowns in a week though? That’s was much more frequent than their usual only monthly occurrence. Worryingly so, almost.

“Have you talked to June about it?” Harley asked. The women, Peter’s therapist, was a godsend when it came to figuring out the youngest Stark. Her advice never failed to aid them, she was almost as helpful as Pepper.

“Yeah, we have a visit scheduled for this evening,” Tony replied. Harley nodded. “You want some breakfast?” Tony asked.

“Actually,” said Harley, “I think I’m gonna wait here a while.” He leaned back further, resting a head on the pillow Peter must have dragged in from his own room. Tony Stark didn’t sleep in Star Wars bedding, after all. 

“You’re a good brother,” Tony smiled.

“I know,” Harley said, smirking himself.

“I have some work to get done,” his dad explained. “If it could wait I would sit with you but I think Peppers just about through with my procrastination. You gonna be okay looking out for him for a bit?” He nudged his thumb in the direction of the bathroom door, Peter’s sobs could still be heard through the wood. 

“Of course. It's been a little while since we’ve had some one-on-one time.” Which was true, in the past couple of weeks Tony had either even with them (which, don’t get Harley wrong, that wasn’t a problem) or the teen had been busy with school or friends. 

“Have fun then,” Tony said before pulling his cellphone from his pocket and raising it. “Text me or ask JARVIS if you need anything.” 

“I know, Dad,” Harley laughed. “Stop being a Papa Bear and go relieve some of Pepper’s stress.” Tony shot him a glare that held no heat before he gave him a thumbs up and left the room.

Harley stared at the white ceiling for a grand total of three seconds before he was off the bed and making his way towards Peter’s continued crying. He couldn’t take the desperate calls for “ _Harls!_ ” any longer.

He opened the door without saying anything first but, still, the effect was almost immediate. Peter quieted instantly his attention was diverted to Harley’s form in the doorway. He had been scratching his arms and banging his wrists on the counter top, if the red scrapes and bruising skin was anything to go by.

“Hey, Pete,” Harley greeted. “Whatcha doing?” He did this a lot after one of Peter’s meltdowns, not drawing attention to the outburst often let it pass smoother. He grabbed the boys arms as well, rubbing soothing circles onto the forming bruises with his thumbs. 

“Daddy’s m-mean,” Peter sniffed wetly. 

“He just doesn’t want you to get a rash, Pete. That juice can’t be too comfy to sit in.”

“I-I don’t, I d-don’t, I-“ 

“Take a breath, buddy,” Harley soothed, continuing to rub circles. “What are you trying to tell me?” He asked, watching as Peter scrunched his face adorably in thought.

“Sh-showers are scary!” He blurted, hand flapping out of Harley’s gentle hold. The exclamation caused something in Harley to click, though, and suddenly the boys earlier denial made sense.

“Does it overwhelm you, buddy?” He asked, thinking back to some of the boy’s past sensory overloads. “All of the water spraying?” Peter nodded miserably.

Harley got an idea suddenly, something he remembered his mom doing back in their little apartment, long before Tony caught any word about his fathering a son. 

“Once second, bud,” he promised Peter before getting up and moving to the linen basket. He rifled through it for a moment before pulling out a washcloth. “This, kiddo,” he said, waving the square around the air, “is going to solve all of our problems.”

Peter watched him, fingers fidgeting nervously but eyes captivated as he watched Harley stuff the washcloth into the drain, leaving half out so that it did not get stuck, before turning on the water. 

“C’mon, Pete. Bath time ,” Harley said before assisting the boy with his clothes as the tub filled behind them. Peter seemed almost completely calm by then, hands slowing and breathing normal once again. The usual twinkle in his eye was back again, as well.

“No shower?” The boy asked.

“No shower, I promise. Just a nice bath, like you love,” Harley said. Because, yeah, even after his brutal rejection of the shower, he loved baths. 

Peter smiled, eyes wide and teeth gleaming before he plopped a wet, slimy kiss onto his big brother's cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> I just got over the flu, have been working on another fandom and am going through a little bit of rough period generally so I’m sorry for my absence. 
> 
> I’m currently working on the next part for ‘We’ll Build This Love’ for anyone whose waiting on that (I had a little bit of writers block but the projects under way again!). That should be out sometime this month but I’m super busy so I don’t have a promise of an exact date. See you all soon!
> 
> Comments are my coffee :)


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